The Wordsmith's Forge

The Writing & Other Projects of Elizabeth Barrette

This poem is from the July 21, 2015 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from Shirley Barrette. It also fills the "primary colors" square in my 6-10-15 card for the genprompt_bingo fest, and it fills the "Asked to give public safety lecture -- right after incident" square in my Superhero Bingo Card. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.

WARNING: This poem touches on some sensitive topics. Highlight to read the detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It features bullying, vile language, discrimination against assorted groups, willing and unwilling changes in hair color, nonsexual intimacies, navigation through shifting identity, boundary issues, violation of body autonomy, canon-typical violence, emotional stress, and other challenges. On the whole, though, there's more fluff than angst, and it ends on a high note. If this is touchy territory for you, consider your headspace before clicking through.

This gaming community solved online harassment. First they polled the community to determine local standards. Then they created a learning system which allowed users to penalize behavior outside community norms, or reward particularly good behavior. This is optimum because it allows each community to set and maintain its own standards. Parameters are created by the community and enforced within its own interactions, not devised and imposed from outside. This way, each little corner of cyberspace can establish its own ideals. Everybody wins!

This poem is spillover from the February 3, 2015 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from chordatesrock. It also fills the "telepathy / mindmeld" square in my 1-3-15 card for the trope_bingo fest. Based on an audience poll, this is the free epic for the July 7, 2015 Poetry Fishbowl reaching its $200 goal. It belongs to the series Seeing Hearts, which you can find via the Serial Poetry page.

This poem is spillover from the June 2, 2015 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from LJ user Ng_moonmoth. It also fills the "forgive" square in my 5-20-15 card for the Wellness Toolbox Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Ng_moonmoth. It belongs to the Space Traders thread of the series An Army of One. It is the second in a triptych of poems about splicing together a trade loop from the Orion side through the Lacuna to the Carinan side; begin with "Who Is Devoid of the Power" or skip to "Hope and Forgiveness."

This poem came out of the July 7, 2015 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from Anthony Barrette. It also fills the "vows or promises" square in my 6-1-15 card for the June Relationship Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles.

For a while now I've had a character sheet for the supervillain Pain's Gray, aka Gray Agamau. His power is Pain Ray, and I've got plans for him crossing paths with extant characters including Shiv and Keane. During the Creative Jam, I used prompts from dialecticdreamer and chanter_greenie to write a batch of poems detailing his backstory. Parts of that journey are pretty dark and intense. But this is heavy-duty hurt/comfort, so Gray's friends are always there to scrape him off the ground afterward.

Another factor has to do with pain and power exchange. Gray is kinky. So are several other members of his gang, in various ways. The storyline shows how Gray starts picking up the skills that will, a few years down the line, make him an amazing top. One of the folks who has gotten to see the backchannel copies suggested that I highlight this stuff as a more positive representation of kink than the stalkery mess that is 50 Shades of Gray. (No, the names aren't related. My character's first name is Gray, and his cape name is a riff on the paint color Payne's grey.) Here's what I've written so far ...

Note: These poems range from dark and heavy to fluff with chocolate frosting. Some are sexy/kinky, some nonsexual kink and sensation, some about other things altogether. Below the cut are spoilers and excerpts.

What this means to me, aside from celebrating for friends, is that I no longer have to tell some couples "The state will recognize other people's marriage but not yours" if we're discussing handfasting/wedding officiation.

Maybe we should swap them back. You know, paint a tiny cloaca on each figure to emphasize their true sex as advertised in the movie. Or put little pink bikini tops on them. Bows on their heads. Indomitus Rex clearly needs her own pair of ass-kicking, fuck-me-red high heels.

I can only conclude they're afraid of female anything with that much teeth.